diff --git a/kowalski/ingesters/ingest_catalog.py b/kowalski/ingesters/ingest_catalog.py
index ff971fa0..9c626be6 100644
--- a/kowalski/ingesters/ingest_catalog.py
+++ b/kowalski/ingesters/ingest_catalog.py
@@ -91,6 +91,11 @@ def process_file(argument_list: Sequence):
             nhdu = 1
             names = hdulist[nhdu].columns.names
             dataframe = pd.DataFrame(np.asarray(hdulist[nhdu].data), columns=names)
+            for col in dataframe.columns:
+                if dataframe[col].dtype in [">f4", ">f8"]:
+                    dataframe[col] = dataframe[col].astype(float)
+                elif dataframe[col].dtype in [">i2", ">i4", ">i8"]:
+                    dataframe[col] = dataframe[col].astype(int)
 
         if max_docs is not None and isinstance(max_docs, int):
             dataframe = dataframe.iloc[:max_docs]
@@ -171,6 +176,8 @@ def process_file(argument_list: Sequence):
                     # GeoJSON for 2D indexing
                     document["coordinates"] = dict()
                     # string format: H:M:S, D:M:S
+                    if document[ra_col] == 360.0:
+                        document[ra_col] = 0.0
                     document["coordinates"]["radec_str"] = [
                         deg2hms(document[ra_col]),
                         deg2dms(document[dec_col]),
@@ -181,6 +188,17 @@ def process_file(argument_list: Sequence):
                         "type": "Point",
                         "coordinates": _radec_geojson,
                     }
+
+                    # if the entry is a string, strip it
+                    # if it ends up being an empty string, it will be dropped
+                    keys_to_pop = []
+                    for key, value in document.items():
+                        if isinstance(value, str):
+                            document[key] = value.strip()
+                            if not document[key] or len(document[key]) == 0:
+                                keys_to_pop.append(key)
+                    for key in keys_to_pop:
+                        document.pop(key)
                 except Exception as e:
                     log(str(e))
                     bad_document_indexes.append(document_index)
@@ -292,7 +310,7 @@ def process_file(argument_list: Sequence):
             mongo.insert_many(collection=collection, documents=batch)
 
     elif format == "parquet":
-        df = pq.read_table(file).to_pandas()
+        df: pd.DataFrame = pq.read_table(file).to_pandas()
         for name in list(df.columns):
             if name.startswith("_"):
                 df.rename(columns={name: name[1:]}, inplace=True)
diff --git a/kowalski/ingesters/ingest_ztf_matchfiles.py b/kowalski/ingesters/ingest_ztf_matchfiles.py
index bc834051..0ec04817 100644
--- a/kowalski/ingesters/ingest_ztf_matchfiles.py
+++ b/kowalski/ingesters/ingest_ztf_matchfiles.py
@@ -153,16 +153,30 @@ def process_file(argument_list: Sequence):
 
             def clean_up_document(document):
                 """Format passed in dicts for Mongo insertion"""
+                # we found some edge cases where the documents already had a "coordinates" field
+                # which was empty. If that happens, remove it
+                if (
+                    "coordinates" in document
+                    and type(document["coordinates"]) == dict
+                    and len(document["coordinates"]) == 0
+                ):
+                    document.pop("coordinates")
                 # convert types for pymongo:
                 for k, v in document.items():
-                    if k != "data":
-                        if k in sources_int_fields:
-                            document[k] = int(document[k])
-                        else:
-                            document[k] = float(document[k])
-                            if k not in ("ra", "dec"):
-                                # this will save a lot of space:
-                                document[k] = round(document[k], 3)
+                    try:
+                        if k != "data":
+                            if k in sources_int_fields:
+                                document[k] = int(document[k])
+                            else:
+                                document[k] = float(document[k])
+                                if k not in ("ra", "dec"):
+                                    # this will save a lot of space:
+                                    document[k] = round(document[k], 3)
+                    except Exception as e:
+                        log(
+                            f"Failed to convert {k} to int or float: {e}, with value {str(v)}"
+                        )
+                        raise e
 
                 # generate unique _id:
                 document["_id"] = baseid + document["matchid"]
@@ -176,6 +190,8 @@ def clean_up_document(document):
                 document["coordinates"] = dict()
                 _ra = document["ra"]
                 _dec = document["dec"]
+                if _ra == 360.0:
+                    _ra = 0.0
                 _radec_str = [deg2hms(_ra), deg2dms(_dec)]
                 document["coordinates"]["radec_str"] = _radec_str
                 # for GeoJSON, must be lon:[-180, 180], lat:[-90, 90] (i.e. in deg)
@@ -516,6 +532,11 @@ def run(
         for _ in tqdm(pool.imap(process_file, input_list), total=len(files)):
             pass
 
+    with multiprocessing.Pool(processes=num_proc) as pool:
+        with tqdm(total=len(files)) as pbar:
+            for _ in pool.imap_unordered(process_file, input_list):
+                pbar.update(1)
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     fire.Fire(run)